Vid: Sharapova trains hard on Lenglen

PARIS – The days before a Grand Slam are not necessarily intense practice days.

It’s more a time go to into maintenance mode, and play some practice sets with friendly opponents.

But Maria Sharapova isn’t operating that way.

Sharapova put in weeks of hard yards between her first-round loss at Indian Wells and her return in Stuttgart six weeks later. And she is continuing on that track.

And in that, the rehiring of former coach Thomas Hogstedt is probably a good fit. He lives for that kind of stuff. And his energy never flags.

Sharapova was on Court Suzanne Lenglen Wednesday morning, sweating up a storm and putting in max effort.

A quarterfinal effort in Madrid, followed by a run to the semifinals in Rome that included four three-setters and a booming victory over reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko were the early rewards for the hard yards.

And now, she’s looking to make some noise at a major.

Here are a few pics.

Best Sharapova Slam

Sharapova won the French Open in 2014. She lost to Serena Williams in the 2013 final. And she won it in 2012. It has been, unexpectedly, her most consistent Slam.

In the last four rounds in 2014, the Russian defeated future Roland Garros champ Garbiñe Muguruza, then 2010 finalist Samantha Stosur, then Genie Bouchard, and then Simona Halep in the final. They were all three-setters.

She lost to eventual finalist Lucie Safarova in 2015 . And that was the last time she played it.

At this time of the year in 2016, Sharapova was serving her suspension for a positive meldonium test. A year ago, she was back less than a month from the suspension. Sharapova needed a wild card from the French Tennis Federation. But she didn’t get it.

Rounding back into form

Until those warmup events in Madrid and Rome, it didn’t look as though Sharapova would be seeded in Paris. More pertinently, it didn’t appear she would even be a dark horse contender, after some pretty pedestrian results in 2017.

But here she is. Sharapova currently sits at No. 29 in the world, after an 11-spot jump with her Rome results.

If she gets to the third round, she would face a top-eight seed.

The way she’s been playing, you’d have to think those top eight will have an eye on Thursday evening’s draw.

Here’s some video of her working out with Hogstedt and hitting partner Alex Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov offered plenty of advice of his own.

It looks like a major team effort on Team Sharapova these days.